Friendly Confrontations

A VISITING DAVID BAINBRIDGE HAS A PREMO DAY!

I WALK THE LINE

There are a surprising amount of photos of me walking away from the camera as taken by the likes of Mark Kolodny and David Bainbridge.

PRINTERS ROW LITFEST 2018

Not much to say here. The programming seemed light compared to previous years. Weather was bad all through Friday night and it led to some bizarre fog in the morning. My usual accomplices were David and Abby Bainbridge. We ran into Brendan Detzner along the route, saw more than a few TAKE PHOTO & POST images, and sat through a nice hour listening to Guest of Honor Joyce Carol Oates talking.

PRINTER'S ROW LIT FEST 2018

Soon to be headed downtown with David and Abby Bainbridge to see Joyce Carol Oates and hopefully retired Cubs catcher David Ross. More photos tonight.

JOYCE CAROL OATES, SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, PRINTERS ROW LIT FEST

David Bainbridge told me that Joyce Carol Oates will be one of the GoH at this year's Printer's Row LitFest. I have a one degree separation with her, not six, thanks to Mort Castle. I never would have thought I'd be in the same book as Oates, but there I am.

RIP KAROLINA STEPEK: POLISH COP, PINK NINJA

So Mort Castle invited me, years ago, to speak to the kids at Columbia downtown. That's Mort with the moustache next to David Bainbridge. Mort has written dozens of books and edited On Writing Horror, and I am a part of that. I talked about my dad having been a cop and that is why so many of my stories were really based on events my dad and his partners had to deal with over the course of their careers.

Karolina attended that class and was also a cop and we became friends. She got cancer and I would call her while she was getting her chemo treatments. I visited her on Christmas Eve of 2015 after she had received word that there was a bone marrow match from someone in France. Unfortunately, the match did not take, though for 89 days, everything seemed to be going good. We all know the end to cancer stories.

Karolina died two weeks ago Sunday. She was 40 years old. And had the most beautiful eyes.